22.10.11

TWENTY YEARS

Twenty years ago today I experianced my first day of recruit training at
MCRD San Diego.

Big Deal.

No really. It was a big deal. It was home leaving at it's most extreem.

It was also coming home in another sence.

The first day of being part of an organization that is full of pride,
tradition, cerimonies, uniforms, and the beginning of the transferance of a
multitude of other intangable things not all of which can be explained that
were being passed down to me. And I was a part of a new generation of
Marines. One expected to far excede the last.
I knew how to use a computer...

I have talked to monks who have spoken about leaving family life, and
compaired it to the military.
I don't know so much. It seems to me you never leave family life. *with
the exception of a few asthetic hermits, who by and large STILL seem to keep
in touch with families.
Those with monastic lifestyles keep in touch with their own families and
become part of another.
Depending on the liniage, they may even start their own family with a wife
and children.
It seems to me that our family just gets bigger and bigger as we get deeper
and deeper into the buddhadharma we might see that more and more of the
universe is actualy our famly too. (or maby I have been reading too much
TNH lately)
At the same time, the individual who left home is not lost.

Like any parrent, I am concerned about the kids. People say they will
learn, but they seem a lot different than we were.
For one, when my generation came in to the Marines, things were certainly
better on the outside than in. We had a great economy and things seemed to
be getting better. That has changed. And now we have people here that came
not for the intangables, but for the tangables, three hots and a cot, an
education, insurance etc... oh, I know those types have allways been here,
but I don't think on this scale. I am dong my best to train them. I hope I
can push, pull and prod them in a direction that noureshes their ability to
lead, to carry themselves with courrage, poise, and self confidance, enjoy
the pride of belonging to one of the worlds finest organizations of elite
warriors ever known. And to also pass that on to the generation that relives
them. Or it may be that one day we cease to exhist.

I do not have much time left in the green machine. All things that arise
pass away. But I will always have served time as a U.S. Marine.

7 comments:

真行  said...

Thank you Jordan for the time you've put in for country and constitution.

SlowZen said...

Hi G,

I like your latest post, and think it is going in a good direction. But I can not seem to comment there.

真行  said...

Thanks for saying so. I always appreciate your input. I just updated the post with my traditional Shobogenzo haiku by the way.

I've adjusted the settings on blogger in a minor way, though I'm not sure it will make any difference in your ability to comment while you're at sea since I can't discern a specific reason.

You might be interested in this... I discovered yesterday that eblogger has its own iPhone app now.

SlowZen said...

Sure,

I don't know if your adjustments will work or not. Out IA and IT guys have been playing with the network all float. Good training.

Is ebloggger the same as bloger?

真行  said...

I’d be pleasantly surprised if my adjustments amounted to much, I think I’ll survive while you're afloat.

Yep blogger’s very own!

真行  said...

Although I should probably mention BlogPress is better, at the moment it just doesn't work with OS5.

Mumon K said...

And thank you for that service.

If only we could get our politicians to be a bit more wise in deploying folks like you...

Thanks for looking!